Saturday, April 28, 2012

April 24, 2012

Bom Dia,
I'm here in the Lan House in downtown Juazeiro da Bahia, writing to all of you about my week while drinking coconut water. Could life be any better? .. Nope ha.
So this week was a pretty awesome week. Our ward split up into a branch and a ward and this past Sunday was the first Sunday that the new ward and the new branch held sacrament meeting and the other meetings. Everyone was way excited and we could feel their excitement. Before you have the chance to think that my companion and I live in the baptismal font baptism a ton of people and that is the reason for the new growth, know that 15 years of missionaries have passed through our ward doing their part. Working hard, slaving away in the sun and doing everything to baptize. I give them the credit!! But we are the lucky Elders that are here to see the frutos of other missionaries work and hopefully help in what ways we can.
This week i had a really neat chance to a go on a division with a very special missionary. He is the Leader of the District where he is at and he has had some struggles these last weeks. So my companion and I did a division with him and his companion. I went with the Senior in the area and my companion stayed with the junior. And it has been a long time since i worked like we worked in his area. We ran from one appointment to the next, we talked to i think everyone who had 2 legs and 2 arms in the whole freaking city ha. It was a really good division. And in every lesson that we taught we laughed and both felt the Spirit. I definitely learned something about the Spirit that day. That laughter does'nt always offend the Spirit but sometimes is the thing that really brings it. Laughter is happiness and happiness is one of the frutos of the Spirit and as we laughed and taught, the investigators learned and felt the Spirit.
We also had the chance to talk a little about our companionship's and how important it is to love our companions. As you know missionaries aren´t perfect, we try everyday to be but we don´t even come close. And because of our weaknesses we sometimes judge others for theirs, to feel superior so we can more easily hide our defects. I have a great companion that teaches me every day. I am grateful for him. I expressed my love for my companion and this Elder, gave me a shocked look and told me that he has never loved one of his companions. We talked and talked and we came to the conclusion that we really do love and appreciate our companions even in the difficulties. I love going divisions with the other missionaries because i learn so much more then i have to share. I pray that i can help the other missionaries and what ends up happening is that they teach me who i need to become and what i can do to better develop that attribute.
The best and last thing that happened on this division was the last lesson that we taught. I don't know why it always works out like that but the last lesson that we teach always seems to be the most spiritual. I got to talk to a girl named Tamires. These Elders have already taught her everything and she just needed a little help to be baptized. We went there and we felt inspired to talk about Tithing and Keeping the Sabbath day. As we talked about these true principles of the Gospel of Jesus Christ we almost, quite literally translated!! ha. The Spirit involved us with His presence.
I sometimes wonder if I'm doing my part here in Juazeiro. Sometimes i wonder is Elder Brown helping even one person. Sometimes i think, "these other missionaries have all these cool experiences to share and i don't haven´t seen one miracle." But I think I'm understanding that what i do, and who I'm becoming is the miracle. I love my Heavenly Father. I love his patience with me, i love His mercy. I´m not the best and I'm not perfect but i will try to be until my Stake President (President Griffin) takes my name tag off my chest. The Gospel changes lives and that is the greatest miracle of all. I testify as one of God´s chosen apostles (with a small {a}) that the Savior lives and that His Atonement is real. And that He calls everyone to come to the home of His Father.
te amo,
Elder Brownzão